Strawberry Hearts and Candy Bullets
by MadGirl-SpaceGirl-StarGirl
Summary: After S.W.A.T is set up with a bad tip off about a shipment of guns, Luca is forced to confront the one who gave them the information, a girl from his past who he never stopped feeling like he owed. But she is in more danger than anyone could know and it's up to the team to protect two of their own, to protect their family. After all; Family is everything (sorry for crap summary)
1. Tip off

"Hondo! Hey Hondo!"

Daniel 'Hondo' Harrelson had only just set foot out of the locker room when he heard the voice of Dominic Luca calling out to him and turned to see the big blonde man jogging over.

"What's up man?" he asked as he rolled his shoulder, which was still sore from arm wrestling the man in front of him the other day.

"Got a shout from a C.I this morning. Says that the West 9 Kings got a massive shipment last night."

"Woah woah, slow down. Shipment of what?"

Luca took a breath and did his best to stop bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Guns. A crap tonne of guns. Like enough for an army and then some."

"You taken this to Cortez yet?"

"Not yet"

"We need her to sign off Luca you know that."

"Ok then let's go!"

As the two men headed towards the Captains office Hondo shot a sideways look at his team member and friend.

"What's up with you this morning?"

"Zero sleep, 4 cups of coffee and a screamin' match with my girl, that's what's up." Luca said brightly as Hondo chuckled, shook his head and then raised a fist and knocked on Captain Cortez's office door.

"Come in!" came her accented voice and the two swat officers did so.

Jessica Cortez was sat at her desk, and had to supress a smile when she saw that it was Hondo who had knocked. Putting her pen down and straightening in her seat she asked in an all business tone

"What can I do for you gentlemen?"

Hondo and Luca looked at each other and Hondo gestured to his friend

"I barely know what's goin' on here Luc. The floor's yours."

Luca cleared his throat, stepped forwards and launched into the explanation he had been giving Hondo a few minutes earlier. He told her about the tip off, about who the shipment went to and where even showed her the picture he had been texted of the crates being unloaded and one of the gang pulling out a fully automatic assault rifle.

Cortez listened intently until Luca had finished before getting up from her desk still holding the man's phone as Hondo stood alert in the corner watching the events unfold.

"This C.I" Cortez began, swiping through the photos "Credible?"

"She's never led me wrong before" Luca said confidently. Finally Hondo spoke up

"Captain I know it's only one source but I think it'd be unwise not to move on this intel. If we leave it and those guns make their way onto the street we could be lookin' at a war."

"Agreed" Cortez said in a clipped tone "Call your guys Hondo. You're up."

* * *

"Chris, you take the roof. Street, Tan I want you on the east exit, Deacon, me, you and Luca on the north. We breach on my command. Everyone clear?" Hondo asked as their vehicle began to slow down as they approached the warehouse that Luca's C.I had directed them too.

"Crystal boss" came Street's reply accompanied as it always was with a matching smirk as Chris and Deacon nodded gravely.

"We're here!" Luca called as he pulled to a halt.

"We go on foot from here. Street our eye in the sky ready to go yet?"

"Ready when you are boss"

"Get it goin' then."

Street, ready with the drone and it's controller exited the truck followed by the rest of the team. Each person knew their job and silently sped away to their respective positions.

"Position 1 ready?" Hondo spoke into his comms and was answered by Chris's voice

"Ready"

"Position 2 ready?"

No answer.

"Position 2? Street, you good?"

"Hondo there's something weird here. The drone's not picking up anything. I'm talking no audio, no heat signatures nothin'. Place is a ghost town."

Hondo considered the information before coming to a decision.

"Ok. Ghost town or not, we do this by the book. Breach on my command. 3, 2, 1 GO!"

As Luca kicked in the door before them, he heard the same sound come from Tan and Street's position and the shattering of glass which was Chris on the roof.

"LAPD SWAT!"

"Right side clear!"

"Left side clear!"

"Room clear!"

Hondo lowered his gun and looked around.

"The hell..." he muttered.

The warehouse was deserted.

No people and more importantly no guns.

Not even an empty crate.

"What's going on Hondo?" Asked Deacon, his naturally serious face furrowed in a deep frown.

"I don't know."

"Guys!" Street called from across the space "You're gonna wanna see this!"

The team, including Chris who had made her way down from the roof, gathered round to look at what Street held in his hands.

It was a scrap of paper, with "BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME" scrawled across it. Underneath the words was a...

"Is that meant to be a pig?" Tan said as Luca growled incoherently in anger.

"Look" Chris took the paper from Street "There's something on the back..."

And she turned it over so that they could all read the words.

"Smile for the camera" read Deacon out loud and at once everyone was looking around the warehouse.

"There!" Tan spotted it first.

Up in the north east corner of the building blinked the small red light of a camera. A camera that was recording their every move.

"Shit."

* * *

"What the hell happened!?" Commander Robert Hicks yelled at the assembled team inside Cortez's office.

"We received information that the West 9 Kings were storing a large shipment of guns at the ware-"

"Well your information was bad! And now we have footage of this team making a fool of themselves all over the internet!" Hicks yelled at Hondo who clenched his jaw but did not react. Hicks scoffed and paced for a few moments before rounding back on the team and barking out

"Who's screw up was this?"

"I authorised the raid sir it's my-" Cortez began to say but Luca cut her off.

"Nah, it was my intel, my C.I. My screw up sir."

Hicks marched over to Luca and pointed up in the taller man's face

"Then you better make this right."

"Don't worry. I'm gonna." Luca said with a fire behind his eyes.

* * *

"Never seen Hicks that pissed off before" remarked Tan as he leant against the wall watching Street and Chris spar in the ring, whilst in the corner Hondo and Deacon were talking in low voices.

"Forget Hicks, any of you ever seen Luca that mad before?" Street said distractedly, but he paid for it a moment later when Chris jabbed him in the ribs.

"He feels responsible. He's mad at himself, at his C.I, at the Kings, at-" but Tan didn't get to finish his thought as a loud voice suddenly shouted

"Fuck you Luca! You best let me go!"

A moment later Luca appeared, looking grimly determined, dragging with him a girl who was cuffed but who was putting up a hell of a fight. As Luca pulled her from view Street looked from where Luca had vanished to the others and said

"What was that?"

It was Hondo who answered;

"That was Luca making it right."

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **So swat were set up! Luca is pissed and no one knows what is going on!**

 **Let me know what you think guys!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	2. Jessie

"What was that?"

It was Hondo who answered;

"That was Luca making it right."

* * *

 _One hour earlier_

Luca was seething.

She had royally screwed him over.

And now it was on him to fix it and she was going to help him like it or not.

Driving around the LA streets he watched out the window as the neighbourhood became more and more dilapidated and run down.

It had been a while since he had seen her face to face but if he knew her then she would be in one of three places.

He found her on his first try, sitting, smoking in the back of a pick up, in the vacant lot at the end of Craymar Street.

She looked different to when he last saw her. She was skinnier, her slight stature emphasised by her oversized grey t-shirt and baggy jeans that were half tucked into a pair of extremely battered combat boots. Her hair, which had been it's natural shade of light brown and down to her waist last time they met, was now pitch black and barely reached her shoulders. The only thing that apparently hadn't changed were her eyes. Bright blue eyes that, as soon as they focused on him, widened and she froze.

As he got out of the car, they didn't break eye contact. He could see her shifting where she sat, as though debating about whether or not to run. He shook his head at her and beckoned for her to come with him, silently telling her not to make a scene.

She didn't heed the warning.

"COPS!" she yelled and then they were all running, her and the seven others who were all milling around. They all took off in different directions.

But he wasn't interested in them.

He was here for her and her only.

She was fast, but he was angrier and had longer legs than he, and he ran her down easily enough.

"Sup Jessie. Think we need to talk."

* * *

Luca all but kicked the door to the interrogation room opened and shoved Jessie inside. He walked up behind her and unfastened the handcuffs. As soo as he did so Jessie made a dash for the door but Luca caught her, wrapping one arm round her waist and pushing her backwards.

"Cut that shit out Jess. Faster you talk, faster you get outta here."

"This is bullshit Luca I haven't done shit!" Jessie snapped folding her arms defensively across her stomach.

"No that THAT is bullshit. You give me a tip off, a lead that you say is solid and when we show up, we're chasin' our tails because THEY WEREN'T THERE!" Luca growled before taking a breath to calm himself and continuing "I trusted your information, I trusted you. So if you screwed up the location or any of it just tell me. Because, way I see it either you screwed up the details or someone tipped 'em off and I really don't wanna believe that second option 'cause the only other person who knew we were comin' was you."

Jessie didn't speak for a minute just glared up at Luca. Finally she sniffed and said combatively

"I didn't get shit wrong. And I didn't rat you out. You ever think maybe it was your side that messed things up?" Saying this she marched right up to Luca "Now either charge me with something, or let me walk."

* * *

"Mind if I join you?"

Luca looked up to see Hondo standing above him.

After he had begrudgingly let Jessie leave, Luca had wanted nothing more than to hit the shit of a punch bag but Street had put a stop to that plan with his immediate questioning.

"Was that your C.I?" Jim had asked the moment Luca had set foot out of the interview room. Realising that Jim Street was going to be like a dog with a bone about this he had made a quick exit and headed straight to the roof, which was where Hondo had found him, sat with his legs dangling over the edge.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead" Luca shrugged and Hondo sat beside him. They sat in silence for a moment before Hondo broke it

"Ok" he said decidedly "Time to spill. What is the deal with you and this C.I?"

"No deal" muttered Luca, not looking at his boss who frowned and continued

"Come on Luca, I have never seen you like this, and I'm pretty sure I've seen you at your worst. This girl has you rattled. As your boss and as your friend I want to know why?"

Luca looked down at the ground, so far below before saying,

"What do you want to know?"

"A name would be a good start"

"Jessica Taylor" sighed Luca. Hondo just gave him a look that said "go on"

"Before I joined swat, when I was still doin' patrols and shit me and my partner Elliot got more domestic calls to the Taylor house than any other. Dante Taylor was Jessie's dad with a mad temper and a thing for beatin' and burnin' his wife Maggie. We knew it, everyone knew it but we could never get her to press charges."

Luca ran a hand through his hair like the frustration of the injustice was still weighing on him.

"We were round that house so much I made a connection with Jessie. She was just a kid, eleven years old first time I met her. Asked me if I was gonna help her mommy. At first I just gave her my card, so she could call me direct if she ever got scared, but I uh, I got so frustrated with the whole goddamn situation..."

He tailed off and Hondo frowned again.

"What did you do Luca?" he asked, brow furrowed.

"I bought her a cheap cell phone. A burner. But that's not the important part the important part was it had a camera and a microphone, so she could film or record what her dad was doing."

Luca leant forwards and put his head in his hands for a moment.

"Three days after I get her the phone, Dante beat Maggie to death, shot Jessie, then fled the scene. Me and Elliot were first there and it... it's still one of the worst things I've ever seen on the job. That bastard had beat Maggie so bad he cracked her head open and Jessie was bleeding out at the bottom of the stairs. Bullet missed her vitals but there was just so much blood man."

"Jesus Luca"

"Yeah. We caught Dante at a roadblock. Coward surrendered. He's doin' life without parole and that's down to Jessie. She uh, she recorded the whole thing. There was picture until she dropped the phone to try and save her mom, the rest was just audio but that plus her testimony, sent the bastard away."

Luca chuckled wryly and looked out across the L.A skyline.

"We see all these people, gangbangers and cartel enforcers and they all think they're tough as shit but Jessie? Jessie's the real deal man. Kid saw her mom beat nearly every day of her life, watched her dad murder her mom, got shot, survived surgery, P.T, the trial and foster care and she's still standin'."

Hondo considered the man before him for a moment before asking

"So how'd she end up bein' your C.I?"

Another sigh from Luca.

"I said she's tough. But she's not perfect. She had uh, a rough time in foster care. I did what I could, I visited, I spoke to teachers, the staff, any family she got placed with, I tried to help. But the second she turned 18 she took off. Ended up sleepin' rough, hangin' with the wrong crowd. In the end the only thing I could do to try and keep her out of trouble and keep an eye on her was put her on the pay roll. So I made her a C.I. And it worked for a while you know, she gave solid leads, mostly kept out of trouble, but she started pullin' away, avoidin' me. Until she gave me the lead on the Kings this mornin' I hadn't seen or heard from her in almost a year."

"Luca you cant blame yourself for all of that."

"I don't-" Luca started to protest but Hondo shot him a look and he slumped a little "Okay maybe I do a little."

"I need to ask you somethin' Luc, and you're not gonna like it but I need an honest answer"

"What?"

"Do you think she tipped them off that we were comin'?"

Luca was silent for the longest time until...

"Yeah. I do."

* * *

 **Oh Luca ye have little faith!**

 **Sorry for not much action but I really wanted to dive into Jessie and Luca's backstory. Hope it was okay!**

 **Let me know what you think! I love hearing from people!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


End file.
